Archive for the ‘Recipes’ Category

Yummy, yummy sweeties! Yes, I am an advocate for enjoying desserts even when you’re on a healthy living lifestyle. In moderation, well prepared desserts and sweets (not processed) can be real treats. Today we discovered two new sweet treats together.

Every other Saturday, Noah is weekending with his mother and Scott and I have the house to ourselves. Two Saturdays back, that Saturday resulted in our delish pumpkin pie. This Saturday, we intentionally made a great dessert and stumbled upon another one. The creations? Cinnamon butter gnocchi and coffee chocolate cupcakes with Bailey’s Irish Cream frosting.

Now, the gnocchi was meant to be dinner. I acquired some sweet potato gnocchi at my last grocery store relay. (On a side note, our pantry is stuffed so I didn’t go today.) We already knew that gnocchi can be used with normal pasta sauces, and when Scott googled “sweet potato gnocchi recipes”, he found a Giada de Laurentiis recipe that uses a butter and cinnamon sauce with gnocchi. Sweet potatoes just cry out for cinnamon anyway, so we decided to give this one a try. We tweaked the recipe and made ours as follows:

1 package sweet potato gnocchi

1 stick butter

1 cinnamon stick

2 tbsp ground cinnamon, add more to taste

2 tbsp sugar, add more to taste

Prepare gnocchi per directions on the package. Melt butter in medium skillet over medium heat with the cinnamon stick. As the butter melts, add 2 tbsp ground cinnamon and 2 tbsp sugar. Stir together until butter is completely melted. Remove cinnamon stick and set aside. Drain prepared gnocchi into colander and add gnocchi to the sauce. Toss gnocchi in sauce well. Serve immediately, adding a sprinkle of ground cinnamon on top of the servings.

Here’s the thing about this dish. When we saw it, and read the reviews, it looked like it would work for a meal, as many had eaten it this way. When we tasted it, though, all we could think of was dessert. I could see it being eaten for breakfast maybe, but it’s too sweet and rich to be eaten as a meal for supper. We ended up eating something else. Also, I liked this a whole lot more than Scott did. It just wasn’t his cup of tea, but I really like it. It reminds me of mini cinnamon rolls! The sauce is rich and pairs well with the texture of the gnocchi.

Wowwo, are these cupcakes goooood. I cheated and had two! Hey, it’s the weekend, and I had not yet consumed even half of my calories for the day yet, so I didn’t mind having two. I hardly eat sweets anymore, so I was due some anyway. This recipe comes from a lady named Ming that I could find out nothing about, but she sure does have some tasty looking recipes! Scott and I were perusing her site and decided on the coffee chocolate cupcakes with Bailey’s Irish Cream frosting. As usual, Scott did the cooking. Here is the recipe as seen on her site:

Cupcakes

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 cup buttermilk

3 heaping tbsp cocoa

1 stick butter

1/2 cup coffee (brewed, in case my mother is reading :P)

1 cup sugar

1 cup flour

1/4 tsp salt

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla

Icing

1 stick butter

3 cups confectioner’s sugar

1/4 cup Bailey’s

1 tsp vanilla

1 tbspn milk

2 tbsp coffee

In bowl, dissolve baking soda in room temperature buttermilk. In saucepan, melt butter and cocoa together over low heat. When smooth, add coffee. In another bowl, mix sugar, flour, and salt. Add cocoa mixture and egg and mix slowly. Add buttermilk mixture and vanilla and beat until smooth. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes, or until poke testing utensil of your choice comes out clean (we use skewers). For the icing, mix together all ingredients and spread on cupcakes.

Most know that coffee goes well with Bailey’s. Well, it’s true even in cupcake form! These are so decadent that I had to have another one. Not as in I just wanted another one – I mean my taste buds were begging me and were going to cry if I didn’t have another one. They just weren’t finished yet. I try not to give such gloriously glowing reviews in fear of someone not believing me, but if you just try this cupcake, you will become a believer. It is that good. If you have a bake off or covered dish coming up, these will be a smashing success. They epitomize all that is wonderful about cupcakes.

So there you have it. I had a sweet Saturday making sweeties with my sweetie. It was an awesome day, and I am truly blessed to have such a wonderful hubby.

Mr. Southern Fiber and I were invited to lunch at our cousin’s home this past Sunday. Her kitchen has recently been completely remodeled, and she wanted us to come see it. I walked in the door and the first thing I saw was a brand new stainless steel stove with matching microwave above, and a stainless steel kettle on the stove! It looks like something out of a Kenmore catalogue. So chic. I loved it!

We had salad and lasagna for lunch, and with Scott being the cook, we didn’t want to show up empty handed. We brought the dessert. What did we bring? Pumpkin pie! Of course, I wanted to enjoy the dessert, too, especially since I love pumpkin pie, like, to death. We searched and found a recipe that fit the bill for our now persnickety bellies. Here’s the recipe:

2 9-inch unbaked pie shells

2 cans pumpkin

6 large eggs

1 cup skim milk

1 cup brown sugar (remember, this makes two pies, so it’s only 1/2 cup per pie)

4 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon ginger

1 teaspoon cloves

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

¼ teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Beat eggs with a whisk, adding other ingredients and continue to beat until smooth. Pour mixture into two pie shells. Bake for 15 minutes at 425 and then reduce temperature to 350. Allow to bake for another 45-60 minutes. Test to see if it’s done after the first 45 minutes, and every 5 minutes after until toothpick (or skewer, as we used) comes out clean.

Now, the funny part about all of this is Scott forgot to make the pies. He laid down for bed and I asked him when he was going to cook the pies… this was 11:45 pm. So, at midnight, Scott is putting the pies into the oven, and me being the good wife I am stayed up to keep him company. We watched an episode of Earth 2 while the pies cooked, although I don’t remember much of the episode. I was zonked. When the pies were done, he took them out to cool and we went to bed. Here’s what I saw Sunday morning:

Mouth watering goodness!!!! I really wanted to have a slice right there before church, but I resisted knowing I could have some at lunch. I had fiber cereal instead:

Not a valid substitute, but it was necessary. It didn’t taste bad at all, but it wasn’t pumpkin pie. I did get to enjoy a slice later:

This tastes sooo good, and I am even more glad we still have some left in the fridge! And with low sugar and skim milk, this is a good healthy alternative to the usual I-don’t-care-about-my-waistline usual pumpkin pie. Also, it has about 4g of fiber per serving. Yay me!

I encourage you to try out this recipe this holiday season. I think it’ll be a hit.